


poor connection

by gracenootfound



Category: DreamSMP, GeorgeNotFound - Fandom, Minecraft - Fandom, dreamnotfound - Fandom, mcyt
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, LGBTQ Character, Light Angst, M/M, Minecraft, POV GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Soft GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), dreamnotfound, mcyt - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28687152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracenootfound/pseuds/gracenootfound
Summary: dream and george have been friends for years, and that's all they ever planned on being. friends. but when george begins to question his own sexuality, he discovers that maybe his feelings for dream are more than simply platonic. as he begins to lose himself and his connection to his best friend, he's forced to decide if these feelings are worth risking everything for.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. just friends

"what do you think george?" dream asks, patiently waiting for a response to his so pressing question about what brand of mac and cheese was the best. 

george said nothing. he was instead focused on the falling snow outside his window. it was the first snow of the season in london, and the entire city was covered in a cold, quiet blanket of white. he watched as a small squirrel crawled up onto the roof of the building beside his, meticulously making it's way across the edge and knocking small bits of the already fallen snow onto the ground below with every step. 

"george?" dream repeated in an attempt to get his friend's attention. 

"hi sorry, what were you saying?" george finally responded, his focus still lingering on the small animal for a moment until it swiftly hopped onto a nearby tree and disappeared behind the corner of the building where he couldn't see it any longer. he snapped his vision back to his computer screen. 

"what has you so distracted today?" dream questioned, abandoning the former conversation. he'd noticed george zoning out like that more than a few times since they'd been talking that night. george shrugged his shoulders, as if dream could see him through the screen. 

"it's been snowing all day and i keep catching myself staring out the window." george responded, smiling to himself as he glanced again at the peaceful snowfall. "it's so pretty." 

dream giggled. hearing his friend refer to something as 'pretty', while adorable, was not a common occurrence. 

"pretty?" dream questioned, curiously. "interesting word choice there." 

"ethereal." george spoke flatly. "that's the word." 

"word of the day?" dream asked, knowing george would understand what he was referencing. 

about a year after the two had met, george had decided he wanted to expand his vocabulary a bit, and would make it his mission to find a new interesting word everyday, and since he and dream talked almost constantly back then, dream always got to hear whatever new word george has discovered, definition and everything. it became such a tradition that on days george would forget, he was always soon reminded when dream joined the discord call. eventually, they had better things to talk about and their little tradition faded, as most any do, and neither of them had thought about it since, until now.

"word of the day! i remember that!" george exclaimed, shocked and excited that dream had brought this up. he quickly launched google and frantically typed on his keyboard, searching for an exact definition. 

knowing exactly what he was doing, dream encouraged him. "alright, go on then." 

george cleared his throat dramatically, and pretended to adjust an imaginary tie on the collar of his shirt, putting his shoulders back and looking straight ahead of him. he tried to hold back a laugh as he spoke. 

"ethereal. adjective. delicate and light in a way that feels too perfect for this world." the boy spoke, past memories of old words and conversations flooding his mind. 

the sound of dream clapping his hands quickly filled george's headphones, and he let out the laughter he'd been holding, relaxing from the proper posture he'd forced himself into. 

"that was incredible, george. now i demand to see this ethereal snowfall." dream added, smugly through his own applause, gently mocking george's british accent. 

george picked up his phone from off of the desk in front of him and stood up, pushing his chair out from behind him and making his way to the window. he opened the camera app and snapped a few photos of the snowy wonderland that laid outside the frosted glass. immediately, he opened the discord app and selected the best looking few, sending them to dream.

"see? ethereal. or you know, just pretty." he repeated, a smile still on his face. he'd never really appreciated the snow in prior years, well at least not since he was a kid, however this year was different somehow. since getting so big online, and growing so close with not only his newfound community but his friends as well, he'd found himself appreciating everything about life more. the little things, and the big.

"oh wow, it is pretty!" dream agreed with a surprised tone. george walked back to his desk chair, taking his seat again. "we don't get snow in florida so i guess i don't think about it much. now i'm kinda jealous." 

"you've seen snow in real life haven't you?" george assumed. it was a shocking idea to him that someone could have never experienced this. only because it was such a normal thing for him. he'd grown up having snowball fights with his siblings, making snowmen with his parents and decorating them with his father's hats and fallen tree branches, making snow angels with his friends on days off from school. it was just odd to imagine a childhood without those things. 

"well i have, just not like that much of it. i've been to places where it was snowing but never really long enough to see it all over everything like that." dream replied. his response made george feel a bit bad for him. "i'd like to live somewhere snowy someday." 

"i guess you'll just have to come live here then." george jokingly suggested, shrugging once again. the two of them were quiet for a moment, and george briefly questioned himself on the words he'd just spoken. 

'was that weird?' he thought. 

"guess i will." dream replied, the smile in his voice was obvious. george searched his mind for something he could say to shift the subject of conversation. 

the two of them didn't like to talk about meeting up lately, primarily because it made them sad. they'd wanted to meet for years, yet something always seemed to come up. whether it was money, or work, or bad timing, it was always something. now it had become a matter of if they were even ready for something like that. the moment of finally meeting, finally seeing each other in person, had been hyped up for so long that they were afraid maybe it wouldn't be as great as they expected. when you look forward to a moment for so long, you start to dread the moment after. the moment it's over, and you realize you'll never again get to look forward to this one thing you've been holding onto for so long. 

"it would be nice, wouldn't it?" george continued, deciding against skimming over the topic and moving on this time. "you and me, drinking hot chocolate, having snow ball fights. although the snow doesn't always last long before the rain melts it." 

"if we had a snowball fight i would totally win." dream spoke proudly. george could practically hear dream's smirk over the call. 

"you can't win a snowball fight, idiot. it's supposed to be fun." george scoffed. the two of them laughed, and george rolled his eyes. 

"still, i'd find a way to beat you." 

they spoke for a while longer, touching on topics they'd been too afraid to bring up lately, for the sake of one and others moods staying in a positive realm. although to both their surprise, this time the conversation felt comforting rather than anxiety giving. they spoke about what they'd do when they finally met. the places they'd go, sights they'd see, videos they'd film. dream being dream of course, tried to come up with a way around actually showing his face if they were to film. 

while george respected it, he'd never really understood why dream didn't show his face. on youtube, sure it made sense, you wanna keep your identity as private as you can, but what baffled him was the fact that dream refused to give him a face reveal. that's right, four years being best friends and he hadn't even seen the man's face. 

while he didn't really understand, he still didn't like to pressure dream. he knew he'd show his face when he was ready, and he'd never try to force him into something he wasn't comfortable with, however that didn't mean he couldn't tease him about it. 

"i bet you're just really ugly." george joked, laughing at his own words. he clicked his pen in and out a few times as he waited for a reaction from dream. 

"oh c'mon, you don't even have to see me to know that's false." dream responded, confidently. george rolled his eyes, placing the pen back down onto the desk and adjusting himself in his chair. 

"oh c'mon." george repeated, mocking dream's so commonly used phrase. "i mean you have to be, right? either that or you're like a wanted criminal or something." 

"maybe i am." dream replied, smugly. "that's definitely more likely than me being ugly, because i'm very... hot." 

"prove it." george demanded saracstically, feeling his cheeks get warm as the words slipped out of his mouth, yet not knowing why. he awkwardly laughed it off in an attempt to move on. 

eventually, the topic shifted, then shifted again, and by the time george glanced at his clock and saw '4:30am', they'd completely lost themselves in conversation. he hadn't even realized how tired he'd been until then, and suddenly his sleepiness hit him all at once and he felt his eyes quickly grow heavy. 

"i've gotta go to bed, dream." george spoke, rubbing his eyes and letting out a yawn. he turned to the familiar view of his window, and finally noticed that the sky had gone entirely dark, only the light from the street lamps glistening off the freshly fallen snow, which had now been glazed over by a thin hard layer of ice. his sleepy eyes traced the now barely visible foot steps from the squirrel he'd seen earlier that night. he briefly wondered what that little guy was doing now. 

"what? no! you said you'd help me plan for the new video." dream protested, frantically. george searched his mind for the memory of that conversation, and did in fact vaguely recall telling dream he'd help last minute brainstorm before they had the film the next day. yes, he had agreed to help dream, but that was before they decided to sit in a call for five hours. 

"that was hours ago, i'm tired." george argued in a whiny voice. he slumped back in his chair, letting himself slide all the way down the slick fabric until he was practically sitting on the floor. 

"i don't care, you promised." dream responded, standing his ground. george rolled his eyes for what felt like the millionth time that day, although this time he was actually a bit aggravated. not at dream, but just that he had to stay awake longer now or he'd feel too guilty. 

he sighed, and tried for a moment to come up with an alternative solution. he sat back up in his chair once he'd thought of something, and adjusted his shirt which had began to ride up his back. 

"ok ok fine, how about i call you on my phone and get in bed, and then we can discuss your dumb video." george suggested, his voice growing groggier by the minute. 

dream was silent for a moment, probably contemplating whether this was the best idea or not. george repeatedly clicked the pen on his desk once again as he waited for a response, desperately trying to keep himself from passing out altogether. 

"fine." dream finally agreed. without hesitation, george started closing out the tabs on his computer, eagerly preparing to get into bed. "but, you need to actually stay awake, ok?" 

"mhm.." george replied, unenthusiastically. "i'll call you back in a minute." 

he swiftly ended the discord call, and then finally closed the application altogether before turning his monitor off and dropping the pen from his hand, back onto the desk in front of him. he paused for a moment, rubbing his eyes again and trying to convince his mind not to be tired any longer. once that didn't work, he forced himself to stand up from his chair, pushing it underneath his desk. 

slowly, he stumbled over to the edge of his bed and changed out of his hoodie before crawling under the covers. he laid there for a moment, his head sinking into the soft, down pillow he was rested on, and for a moment he considered entirely ditching dream and simply letting himself drift off into the bliss of not caring, but of course he did say he'd help, and he wanted to keep his word. he sighed deeply before picking up his phone and opening his contact app, searching through the numbers in his phone for dream's. 

he found dream's contact, his bright green minecraft character as the icon, and clicked the call button. at least that's what he thought he'd clicked, but was soon to realize once he was greeted with the image of his own face staring back at him, that he'd hit the facetime icon instead. he decided it was kind of funny and just let the outgoing video call continue, trying again to keep his eyes open as he listened to the quiet little beeping noise coming from his phone as it rang. 

finally, after about four rings, dream actually picked up. george focussed his sleepy eyes on his screen, which now displayed a bright white image of dreams carpet. he adjusted his brightness so he wouldn't go blind at the sight of the bright white breaking the emersion of darkness he'd created for himself in his bedroom. 

"why the hell did you FaceTime me?" dream questioned, confused. george laughed, holding his phone up with his tired hand just enough for dream to see the smile on his face, which was half buried by his blanket. 

"i don't know, why not?" george replied, slurring his words a bit. his eyes were now closed and he really didn't bother fighting it. he was convinced he'd never felt this tired in his life, which was most definitely not true. 

"what was the point of calling me if you're asleep?" dream teased, laughing slightly. he was keeping his voice down, which made george's stomach flutter a bit. he knew dream lived alone, so he was just being quiet out of curtesy. 

"i'm listening, just.. tell me about your ideas and i'll tell you if they suck or not." george suggested, hoping dream would just agree so he wouldn't have to make much of an effort. 

"that is nowhere near helpful." dream complained, not budging. dream was, in his own words, very determined, but george preferred to call it annoyingly stubborn. 

george groaned, and briefly considered just hanging up. 

"i'm so tired dream." he whined, lingering the end of the word for probably a bit too long. the two sat in silence for a moment, and george quietly hoped that maybe dream would just give in and let him sleep, until- 

"what if i show you my face, will that wake you up?" the words came out of dream's mouth so casually, as if he didn't know the weight of what he'd just said. george had been asking to see his face for years, and dream always had some excuse as to why he didn't want him to. was he really prepared to reveal himself that quickly, all because he wanted help with some dumb video? 

'how desperate of him.' george thought. he contemplated for a moment, trying to decide if he thought dream was being serious or not. of course if he was, it was an easy trade. stay up for an hour longer and get to see your best friends face for the first time? anyone would agree to that. however george knew dream, and he knew it was more likely than not that dream was messing with him. 

"if you show me your face right now i will stay up with you." george conditioned. "but it has to be like right now. your entire face." 

the call fell silent as dream took yet another moment to think. george awaited anxiously, noticing himself start to wake up a bit more with this newfound excitement. 

"deal." dream spoke. 

george's stomach practically dropped. his eyes widened a bit, which dream could most definitely notice since the camera was still pointed directly at george's sleepy face, which was previously slumped into his pillow, but now was hovering over it as he sat up, preparing himself for what was possibly about to happen. 

"alright let's see it then." he demanded, eagerly. part of him still didn't even believe dream yet, but he couldn't help but be eager. he'd waited years for this moment. whether it was really gonna happen or not, even the talk of it filled him with anxiety.

dream was once again silent, this time for so long that the hope george had just built up had slowly started to deteriorate. after about a minute of pure quiet, he was ready to just end the call, frustrated at the idea of being played once again by his friend. 

just as he was about to shift his thumb to the end call button, his vision filled with green. dream's camera had moved from the white of his desk to bright lime green of his own merch hoodie. for a moment, george continued to question it, convinced dream was going to pull some dumb joke, until dream started to pan the camera up, and his arm came into vision. 

the british boy sat up in his bed even more, a smile growing on his face, and his eyes completely wide open now. the camera slowly continued moving further and further up dream's torso. george slowly saw his chest, the smiley face on his hoodie filling the camera, the anxious feeling in his stomach growing bigger and bigger, then his jawline, his pale skin and a slight bit of stubble on his chin, and then finally, after all these years george finally sees- 

"poor connection?!" he yells, probably loud enough to wake his neighbors up. the phone screen had paused on a blurry, obscure image of dream's face covered by a gray fog and the words 'poor connection'. the image was so blurry you couldn't even tell it was a person, just blurred colors and textures. "you've got to be kidding me!" 

"wait what?" dream asked, laughing as he realized what had happened. 

"i can't see your stupid face it just says poor connection!" george informed dream, groaning in frustration and throwing his phone down on his bed. he covered his face and flopped his head back into his pillow. 

dream burst into laughter, knowing this wasn't planned, and finding the perfect yet cruel timing of his internet screwing up to be incredibly hilarious. george laughed as well, although his was more of a painful laugh than an amused one. the two of them sat there histarical for minutes, the sound of dream wheezing loudly blaring from george's phone. 

"i hate you." george complained, as he began to catch his breath. he picked his phone back up, to see that dream had now turned his camera off altogether. 

"what? it's not my fault!" dream protested, still laughing through his words. "it's just not meant to be i guess." 

george hovered his finger over the end call button. 

"that's it, i'm going to bed." he stated, indefinitely. he rubbed his sleepy eyes with his free hand once again. 

dream let out a defeated sigh. 

"ok ok, sleep well george." he finally agreed. george was a bit shocked, not expecting dream to give in that easy. he must have felt guilty for practically scamming him. 

"goodnight dream." the british man spoke, finally pressing down on the red phone icon and listening to the three beeps the call made as it ended. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! i hope you liked this first chapter, i promise things are going to get more interesting, so stick around! i've uploaded this on wattpad as well, and in all honesty i'm not exactly sure how ao3 works, so bare with me if i make a few mistakes, haha. anyways, chapter two should be out very soon! thanks for reading :D


	2. drift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> george experiences anxiety as his thoughts about dream begin to drift into unfamiliar territory.

george woke up that afternoon to the startling sound of his ring tone filling the room. he slowly opened his eyes, groggily rubbing them with the pads of his middle fingers, and groaned as he shifted himself to his side, reaching his arm over to hit the answer icon on his phone screen without actually picking it up off of the table. he always put his phone on silent before falling asleep, however there was one person who's calls would always go through regardless of the volume settings, and that was dream. 

"hello?" george said softly after answering the call, burying the side of his face back into his pillow, searching for the same comfort he’d felt just seconds before his phone rang. his voice came out low and raspy, and cracked just barely as he spoke. "are you ok?"

dream claimed to only ever call without notice for emergencies, or when there was something he really needed george's help with, so his initial instinct was always that something was wrong, although more often than not it was just something small.

"yeah i'm fine, just needed to wake you up." dream responded, casually. george could hear the wheels of dream's chair roll across the floor, then the sound of his mini fridge opening. "we have to film today, remember?" 

His voice was faded and quiet as he was on the opposite side of the room from his mic now. 

"you're so annoying." george spoke blatantly, knowing the only reason dream was being so insistent was because of george hanging up on him the night before. he clearly wanted to get payback for it. he lifted his arm up once again and finally picked up his phone off of the small bedside table. he looked at the screen, squinting as the bright light emitting from it strained his eyes. "what time is it?" 

"uh.. 10am here so like two for you?" dream guessed, unsure. he’d practically memorized the time difference now, after all those years of syncing up their sleep schedules so they’d have more time to speak with each other or even record videos, but he didn’t always get it exactly right. 

george's sleepy eyes searched for the time at the top left corner of his phone screen. "three." he corrected. 

he pushed his covers down and sat up, pushing himself back so he was leaning against the wall. he picked up the glass of water he had sitting on his table, taking a small sip. it tasted like stale cardboard. he quickly placed the glass back down, briefly wondering how long it had been there. 

"which means you most definitely slept long enough." dream continued. "you don't get to call me annoying." 

"whatever." george sighed, chuckling a bit under his breath to let dream know he wasn’t really angry. The two of them bickered and argued like this practically everyday, but neither of them were ever really upset. Well, for the most part at least.  
still sleepy enough that he could barely follow the conversation, george swept through his notifications, replying to a few messages and completely ignoring the fact that dream was still on the call. dream didn't say anything either, all george could hear was the sound of his fingers clicking on his keyboard. 

the two sat in silence for a few moments, george trying to wake up a bit and dream allowing him to. part of george hoped that if he ignored his friend for long enough, he'd go away. but of course, that wasn't going to work in this situation. 

"you don't expect me to get on my computer and start filming with you right now do you?" george asked, hearing himself sound irritated even though he really wasn't. "cause if that's the case you can film without me." 

"don't be so whiny george, it doesn't look good on you." dream joked, smugly. george could hear the pride in his voice. "yeah do whatever you need to i don't care, but don't take too long please ok? i have a thing to do later and need to get the vid filmed first." 

"what kind of thing?" george asked, curiously. he glanced out his now frosted over bedroom window as he waited for a response, tracing the cracks in the thin layer of ice with his still tired eyes. 

"bye george." dream stated, ignoring the question entirely. before george could even process what was said, he heard the sound of the call ending. he quickly shifted his attention from his window back to his phone screen to see that dream was gone. 

instead of questioning it, he just shrugged it off and swung his legs over the side of his bed, sitting on the edge for a moment and gathering his thoughts before finally standing up. he stood in place for a bit, stretching his arms and back.  
Finally, he took a few steps and looked around his bedroom, realizing just how messy it had become. Quickly, he began picking up a few old wrappers he'd left on his bedside table and tossing them into the bin on the other side of the room. he missed one of the shots, but decided it was far too much work to walk all the way over and pick it up. After throwing a few stray socks and t-shirts into his laundry bin, he grabbed the glass of stale tasting water once again, and made his way to the kitchen to dump it into the sink. 

george didn't mind having to film with dream, in fact for the most part it felt more fun than it was work, although he did wish dream would give him more of a heads up when it came to timing. he had a habit of calling ten minutes before filming and expecting everyone to be ready. in all actuality it wasn't a big deal, george was never really 'busy', but he did take his sleep very seriously, and dream liked to get in the way of that.

after tidying up a bit, he decided he should probably take a shower. one, because it had been a few days and he was beginning to smell, and two, because it would help him build up the little bit of energy he still needed in order to be awake and entertaining in dream’s video.

he made his way back to his room, grabbing a change of clothes and his bluetooth speaker, and then hurried to the bathroom. he placed his speaker onto the bathroom counter, and turned it on, allowing his phone to connect to it before hitting shuffle on his favorite playlist. 

as he climbed into the shower, he felt himself slowly begin to wake up as the refreshing feeling of the warm water flowed down his body. he ran his fingers through his hair, letting the water run over his face and down his chest, a feeling of comfort rushing over him. the peaceful sound of 'la jolla' filled the room, which just happened to be the song that had started playing when he shuffled his playlist. he didn't listen to wilbur's music too often, but this song in particular was one of his favorites. it just spoke to him in a way that most music didn't. 

as he allowed the calm sound of the music to set his mood for the day, his mind drifted. the subject of his thoughts slowly shifted from the lyrics of the song, to the video he'd be filming in less than thirty minutes now. he quickly realized that he didn't actually know what video they were even filming, since he did sort of ditch dream the night before.  
he began to think deeper about the previous night in an attempt to remember hints dream may have given about what the topic of the video would be. moments of their brief facetime call began flooding back to the front of his mind. 

'what if i show you my face, will that wake you up?' 

he remembered how the words flowed out of dream's mouth so effortlessly, how something that held so much weight was so simple for him to just throw out there like that. he remembered the anxious feeling he got in his stomach as dream panned the camera up, nearly revealing himself after so many years, and he remembered that goddamn 'poor connection' screen. the disappointing feeling of all that sudden excitement leaving his body just as quickly as it had entered. 

he thought about the recent call with dream, the way dream's voice sounded just as tired and rough as his own, the way he spoke with such persuasion and confidence. 

'don't be so whiny george, it doesn't look good on you.' 

george's stomach fluttered, and he smiled at the thought of those words. they made him feel something he’d never felt before, something he couldn’t even identify. all he could determine was that it was a good feeling. but why? why did dream of all people make him feel this way? some silly joke? his thoughts began to race.

it was just a joke. a satire comment made by a friend who was known for making many, many of those same satire comments almost daily. so why did it make george feel the way it did? why did his stomach fill with butterflies? why did part of him enjoy it? 

he stopped himself, shaking his head as if to shake the zooming thoughts away. his smile had faded, and the growing butterflies in his stomach had now turned to a growing feeling of anxiety deep inside him. he quickly reached down and turned the water off, cutting his shower short. 

he climbed out of the shower and quickly dried off, wrapping the towel around his waist, picking up his phone and stopped the music, cutting wilbur off in the middle of a lyric. 

'i'd like to live somewhere snowy someday.' 

his thoughts continued to drift beyond his control as he quickly made his way back to his bedroom. 

'i guess you'll just have to come here then.' 

as the conversation replayed in his head, he began to see it differently. the image in his head of he and dream in the snow, messing around like little kids, hurrying inside to warm up with blankets and hot chocolate, did he want more than that? 

"stop." he spoke out loud this time, rubbing his eyes as he let himself fall back onto his bed, now sitting anxiously on the corner. he rested his hands on either side of him, leaning forward a bit and gripping his bed sheets in his hands. he stared at his bedroom wall, tracing the trim of the room with his eyes as he searched his mind for a thought that made sense. 

"he's my best friend. he's my friend and i care about him, that's why i'm feeling like this. it's just platonic." he continued, still speaking out loud into the empty room in an attempt to convince himself of the words that were coming out of his mouth. His breathing sped up, and he tried to get a hold of it, but couldn’t. 

but why now? why does this feel... different? maybe because of last night... maybe because it feels more.. real now? to have almost put a face to the person i've spent so much of my life with? 

overwhelmed, he stood up once again, hurrying back to his kitchen. he grabbed a bottle of water out of his fridge, practically pouring it down his own throat, finishing it in seconds. He tried to take a deep breath, but again was unsuccessful. Finally, he placed one hand on his chest, and the other gripped the edge of his kitchen counter. he felt his hand rise, and then float back down as the air filled his lungs and left. soon, his short panicked breaths, became slow and calm. 

"i'm okay." he reassured himself, taking one last deep breath before allowing himself to stand up straight again, his hand falling from his chest, and returning back to his side. 

he'd had many of these same spurts of anxiety in the past, some far worse than this, yet no matter how intense or subtle they were, all had been equally as scary. although this time it held a new kind of fear, as he couldn't go to dream to help him calm down. 

dream was always the one he turned to for this kind of thing, he was too embarrassed to speak to anybody else about it, and dream was always more than willing to make sure george was okay. there were some nights over the years when george would be so anxious he couldn't sleep, and dream would stay up in a call with him for hours, sacrificing his own sleep just to talk to george about nonsense until he felt ready to hang up. dream would teach him grounding methods, ways to find his way back to himself, including that whole strategy with the hand on his chest, feeling the air move in and out. 

it wasn't that george relied on dream, more that having his friend there with him made relying on himself just that much easier. 

as his breath steadied and his heart rate slowed back to a normal pace, george felt the anxious feeling fade almost entirely, still lingering ever so slightly in the pit of his stomach. he made his way back to his bedroom for a second time now, just in time to see his phone light up.  
he hurried to pick it up. it was a text from sapnap. 

'you ready yet dude? we're all bored waiting for you.' 

needing at the very least a distraction, he typed back a simple 'yeah, be on in five.' 

he booted up his pc, and opened discord. sapnap, dream, and bad were all sat in a call waiting for him. he took a deep breath, feeling a slight shakiness still as his body continued to come down from all the recent panic, and he clicked join. 

"george!" sap's voice filled his headset, startling him. george chuckled at the sound of his friend’s unexpected excitement. 

"hello." he spoke with a smile on his face. the other two happily greeted him soon after, and the four of them spoke for a bit, catching up on little things and going over how each other's days had been so far. george of course, stayed quiet about his little anxiety event, not wanting to worry anyone, but most importantly not wanting them to ask what had triggered it.

"wait so what are we even filming?" george finally asked, after about a half hour of random conversation. the call fell silent, and it became clear that dream hadn't told a single one of them what the topic of the video was meant to be. They all quietly waited for a response, giggling at the sudden lack of noise. 

"well i did have a super cool idea, but george hung up the facetime call before working out the specifics with me last night." dream responded, sounding a bit angry. "so we're just gonna do manhunt early instead." 

"wait wait facetime?" sapnap questioned before george even got a chance to defend his decision of ditching dream. "you guys had a late night facetime call without me?" 

"facetime?" bad budded in. "so that means george saw dream's face?" 

sapnap audibly gasped. 

"no no, he didn't don't worry. he almost did though." dream quickly clarified. george felt a bit of anxiety come back as they discussed the previous night. he wanted desperately to avoid falling back into the spiral of anxiety that morning. He tried his best to shut out any unwanted thoughts. 

"what?!" sapnap asked, his voice once again incredibly loud. george turned his audio down in discord. 

the two explained themselves, going into detail about their late night events. george made sure everyone understood just how exhausted he'd been, while dream made it clear that george had most unjustly ditched him. they bickered back and forward throughout this explanation, bad and sapnap laughing at how ridiculous they sounded. sapnap also made a point to let everyone know how upset he was that he wasn’t invited to their little ‘sleepover’. 

"so george you promised dream you'd help him and then just hung up because you didn't get to see his face?" bad questioned, trying to understand what the two were really saying through all the sidetracked arguing. "that's kinda messed up, man." 

"thank you!" dream shouted in agreement. george rolled his eyes, a smile still on his face. he tried to come up with a way to defend himself further, but realized both that it wasn't worth it, and that he sort of was in the wrong, despite it being a dumb little argument. 

"fine, i'm sorry for hanging up on you dream." he began, finally giving in. "is that what you wanted to hear?" 

"thank you, george. that's all you had to say." dream spoke, smugly. george chuckled a bit. 

"wow gogy, dream totally just made you his bitch." sapnap added. the call filled with laughter, a faint "language!" from bad, cutting through the hysterical sound of the other three, which only made them laugh harder. 

"whatever, can we just start the manhunt now?" george asked through his laughter, deciding not to protest sapnap's ridiculous statement. 

“oh i’ve already started.” dream responded, that same familiar smug tone in his voice. the three others gasped, as they realized that dream was no longer standing next to them in game. they turned to see him a good distance away, hitting a tree. the three simultaneously began yelling at him and running toward his character.

after about three hours of chasing each other around, trying out new strategies, yelling and cracking jokes, sapnap finally managed to get the final hit on dream, winning for his team. 

loud shouts of victory rang through the discord call, followed by dream's distressed groans. 

"how did you even get back so quick?!" he yelled in protest, running around frantically in game, now back at spawn after dying. the other three laughed.

"you're so bad, dream!" george playfully added, happily hopping through the end portal back to the overworld, after he and sapnap had defeated the dragon themselves. he switched his gamemode to creative. 

"that was bs, i almost had it!" dream continued to complain, as the three others began placing random blocks and bad built the trophy he always built at the end of the game. 

the four men bickered for a bit, discussing things they could have done differently as well as what they'd been proud of themselves for. dream eventually congratulated them, after swallowing his pride, and stopped the recording. 

"alright gg guys, i'm gonna head out." he announced, leaving the minecraft server. 

"ooo that's right he has his little date tonight." sapnap smirked. george's stomach dropped ever so subtly as he heard the words leave his friends mouth. he briefly remembered dream mentioning something he'd had to do, and being reluctant to explain what exactly it was. 

"excuse me?" george asked, pretending to be jealous, although he wondered if maybe it wasn't pretend. he tapped his finger on his desk anxiously as he waited for an explanation from dream. 

"alright well, i wasn't gonna say anything to anyone else until i knew it was really something." he began. george felt his anxiousness grow once more, and felt angry with himself for caring so much. "but i've been talking to this girl... and i'm taking her out on a date tonight." 

george's mind began to spiral again, he felt a feeling of what he could only recognize as jealousy start to build up in his chest, but why? why did this matter? he should be happy for dream, happy for his friend, but instead he felt angry. the faint feeling of betrayal filled him, and he had no idea why. 

"o- oh that's great, dream. good for you!" he stuttered, his voice becoming shaky as he grew anxious again. the other three continued to speak, but george couldn't hear them over the sound of his own thoughts taking control of his mind for the second time this morning.  
why didn’t he say anything? why did he tell sapnap and not me? Why do i even care?! 

The only words he could make out over the sound of himself were, 

“Her name is elena.”


End file.
